This story really starts with a boarding house.
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An old timber hotel, the Farmers Union Hotel at 59-69 Wilson Street, had been de-licensed in December 1914.
It was purchased by Geelong businessman John Jende and converted into a boarding house.
In late 1917 Jende advertised for its demolition and, selling off the eastern portion of the land to F W Grabsch for a motor garage, had the funds to commission a Melbourne architect, Ernest Keogh, to design the three-level, brick "Wimmera Coffee Palace" as a replacement.
Built in 1918 along Late Federation/Early Art Nouveau lines, it is the best, if not the only, example of this style of architecture in Horsham.
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Being a temperance hotel, it initially attracted many boarders at a time when Horsham was growing quickly.
After WW1 however, Jende found it was not nearly as profitable and put it on the market.
In 1927 Allan Richards, a retired farmer from Goroke, purchased the coffee palace as an investment.
About a year earlier another retired farmer, Robert Edward Charles, had invested in the Criterion Hotel located further west along Wilson Street.
The Criterion had been in the centre of the business district when first built in 1878 but businesses had moved to the east making the Criterion a failing enterprise.
Richards and Charles appear to have put their heads together and come to an arrangement.
Charles allowed the licence of the Criterion to lapse in December 1927 and sold the freehold to Richards, who proceeded to convert it into a boarding house.
The maximum number of hotels permitted in Horsham was capped at seven but now there were only six.
In February 1928 Richards successfully applied to the licensing court for a publican's licence for the Wimmera Coffee Palace.
Richards renamed it the "Hotel Locarno".
Richards added an extension at the rear of the hotel, almost doubling its accommodation capacity then, in June 1930, he leased the Locarno to none other than Bob Charles.
The switch was complete. Bob Charles purchased the freehold of the hotel in 1937.
He was licensee of it for 20 years during which time he was deeply involved in civic matters, becoming mayor twice.
He sold the hotel to Carlton & United Breweries in 1950 and retired.
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In 1955 Bill Fairbairn leased the hotel from CUB until 1961. Arch Gardner, who at the time was a drinks waiter, recalls an era with staff in formal dress, including bow-tie and cummerbund.
Arch has many anecdotes, one of the more printable being about noted practical joker Kelly Brain.
On one occasion Kelly came to the Locarno with a hessian bag full of live rabbits on sheep-sale day so there were many utes, each with a sheepdog fresh from the saleyards.
Kelly nonchalantly wandered amongst these with his bag, gaining an attentive canine following.
Going to the rear entrance of the public bar and holding the door open, he released the rabbits.
Arch recalls there was immediate pandemonium and a lot of spilt beer and broken glass he had to clean up.
In August 1982 the Locarno opened Horsham's third drive-in bottle shop, utilising the original stables entrance at the eastern end of the hotel. Vehicles could drive through and exit onto Hamilton Street.
Horsham locals, Peter and Denise Carter, took over the lease of the Locarno in April 1984 and, in November 1987, purchased the freehold.
On 26 August 1988 the Carters applied for an extension of their licensing hours from 3.00am to 5.00am for Friday and Saturday nights only. The Horsham Council refused the application.
The Carters, believing they had a strong case, appealed to the Liquor Control Commission in Melbourne but Commissioner Ryan, noting the resistance by the Council, reluctantly refused it.
The Carters appealed to the full bench of the Commission in September 1989. This second appeal was successful, with the Commissioners finding that much of the evidence presented by the Council was unsubstantiated.
However, for the Carters, it was a Pyrrhic victory. In today's terms, the cost of their two appeals was in the vicinity of $50,000. A year later they put the Locarno on the market.
As an afterthought, there were some curious aspects of the Council's behaviour. Shortly after their vehement opposition to the Carters, the Council offered no opposition at all to an application for a seven-days-a-week 5am licence by Jakades Restaurant in Baillie Street. Ten years later the Council waved through a similar 4.30am licence application by Kannens Nightclub in Darlot Street.
In 1991 a private investor purchased the Locarno and Danny and Di Murray became the licensees, running it until 1997. In 1999 the next licensee broke his lease and for a time the Locarno was closed until a company, headed by Paul Lewis, took over the lease, changing the name to "Wilsons Hotel" and re-opening on 24 December 1999.
The exterior of Wilsons has barely changed since it was first built in 1918, thus retaining its heritage values.
The interior has been opened up but some of the original features, such as the Queensland Maple staircase and wall-panelling, and the pressed metal cornices, survive.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, current managers, Chris Harrison and Kat Vigenser, have had limited trade due to statewide restrictions on gatherings. Wilson's is the only nightclub within a 200km radius of Horsham.